Polls open in Japan

TT

Updated 00.06 | Published 00.02

 

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi addressed supporters in Tokyo in the final spurt of the election campaign on Saturday. Photo: Eugene Hoshiko/AP/TT

Polls have opened in Japan for Sunday's new elections for the lower house of parliament.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's conservative party is expected to win a majority.

Takaichi took office as Japan's first female prime minister in October and called the new elections in January in an attempt to capitalize on her government's early popularity.

The ruling coalition, which includes Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), currently has only a narrow majority in the lower house.

But the latest opinion polls suggest that the LDP will easily win more than the 233 seats needed for a majority in the lower house in the new election. The chamber has 465 seats.

Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, around lunchtime in Sweden.